Be My Baby

Reverb and the Wall of Sound

Before the days of electronic reverb, recording musicians had to be inventive with genuine, reverberant rooms, in order to give some life to dry recordings made in the studio.

Phil Spector famously exploited a small, echo-chamber - not unlike the reverb chamber at NPL - to make his signature Wall of Sound. This is the mush of blended vocals and instruments that you hear on 60s classics such as the Ronette's Be My Baby.

The Ronettes

Spector recorded all the musicians in a tight cluster, then played the recorded sound back ito the echo chamber, where he picked it up again, using only one mic, so he could re-record it. The resulting, mono wash of sound was a hit - partly because it sounded so good on AM radios (which were becoming an increasing popular fixture in cars).